, 1887-10-20
Educational Eass Convention.

a.! ut lis uWn GCtIDn. - that RON. rs
matters s'aud. the conference simply
ask tire" outside, nonresident, un-
Interested men To- 20 what it started
In to do This Is = confession Of
weakness and vacillation unworthy of
the great 5icthodist church, The
Laity have been coBtemptUously ig-
nored, after spending many dollars
and much time in helping TO locate
this University. Sach men as d I.
Denny. J. Il. Lewis. Albert Briggs,
Hall Davis, y. ID. Jill, Alien Wen,
Il. Willard. :. |. Davis and ". c.
Squire. lind themselves plainly told
they are not wanted any further and
they will please stand back and keep
their hands Of; that the ministry are
aisle 10 90 their OWL business without
aid. But the location Of this Uni
versity is not the ministry'5 business.
The Methodist Episcopal church re
cognizes her laity as The Church. So
fully is this true that every dollar of
church property is held by them
The constitution Of the ministry even
must be by the laity. Now, on what
grounds must the great rank and fire
of the church be ignored Not that
they were not interested. The chief
support Of the school both in money
and in students, must come from the
laity. Not certainly that they We're
not capable. No sane man would af-
firm that body of ministers, cut of
largely by profession from business,
We're better business mon than those
whose names We have given above.
Nor We're they ignored because of
unwillingness to labor hard for the
proposed object. In tolls they have
been abundant; and the above list of
names represents more work done
and more money expended fire to one
than the whole conference can show.
The laymeH of the Methodist church
We're ignored just because it suited
some few designing tricksters, who
had personal ends to attain, to ignore
them. But with however few or how-
ever many this fault rests, the whole
conference must bear the response
bility, for it said by a very decided
majority vote, that it would allow the
laymen no voice in this matter This
has aroused the laymen Of the church
and properly SO. They propose now
mass convention that shall make
their voice heard as to location. There
is no real conflict, for the conference
has put the matter out of its own
hands into the hands of uninterested
parties. The laymen are interested
parties. They have right to be
heard and they will be heard. It is
perhaps unfortunate that separa-
ton should occur But that separa-
ton is made. The conference has
forced it. Its arrogance deserves
and necessitates the rebuke thus Civ
en-. TO tamely submit, on the part
of the laity would be to merit all of
the opprobrium of other denomina-
tions and would be confession that
Methodism is as monarchical as Ro-
manism.
1t is perhaps too early to predicate
a guess as to the action of this lay
mems convention. We believe how
ever that it will do right This is
more than can be predicated of the
action of the conference The move
ment is of great interest outside of
the denomination concerned,as mark
ing an era in the true spirit of Amer
lean freedom. The time when the
few can dominate the many-deny-
ing them the right to be heard-is
passed forever and the day of equal
ity and free speech both in church
and state has fully come. 1t may
not be, however, that any separation
of ministry and laity will result. We
have no sort of idea that the minis
terial conference, or its authorized
commission will set up an opposition
to the laity of their own Church.
Such u course is certainly not neces-
sary, and would be supreme folly.
There is no reason why ministerial
conferences should have exclusive
control of these educational institu-
tions; there is nothing in the laws of
the III. L. Church that gives them
such control, any more than to the
laymen; and, indeed the layman, be-
ing necessarily more practical, and
having more permanent interests
than the itinerant preachers who are
here today and yonder tomorrow
there is manifestly moro fitness in
lay control than in ministerial con-
troll of such institutions.